Killing Paly's without releasing palytoxin

[MMM33732]

I need to kill off a few heads of paly's that are starting to touch some of my SPS. These things grow like weeds. No way to take the rocks out. What would be the best way (if there is one) to kill off the ones I need so they don't release any palytoxin into the tank? I've come across a story or so in the past of someone cutting some off a rock, putting the rock back in which resulted in his tank completely crashing (at least corals). Would aptasia-x be a good choice or do they release the toxin any time they die?

 

[650-IS350]

I sometimes would kalk paste a couple at a time.

Turn off all flow in tank, kalk paste a couple heads, leave on for 10 mins or so. Then turn on all pumps and skimmers back on.

I wear these as sometimes you don't know you have a cut or allergic.

 

[MMM33732]

I'm not too worried about myself as I am other corals being effected. I've had my hand in there and touched them plenty of times. Actually bare handed fragged/cut them numerous times before I knew better. Anyways, this time I don't intend on cutting them or even touching them if not necessary. I'd rather just nuke them with some kalk or better yet aptasia-x (easier). My fear is that they may possibly release toxin as they die in turn effecting the other corals. In the past I cut them with scissors while siphoning out the cut polyp and surrounding water to prune them. Problem with that is both my fear or cutting them in tank causing any release as well as the fact that they grow back a new head from anything left in a matter of days. I do run carbon as well as ozone, so hopefully any release wouldn't be an issue but none the less, anyone know if there is an issue killing them in the display tank via nuking method?

 

[ilyad]

I would imagine the most effective way (without removing it) would be to starve out a polyp. Keep in mind I haven't tried this myself, but what I would do is touch the polyp to make it close, then put a drop of crazy glue/frag glue on it so the polyp cannot open up. It would take some time but Id imagine the guy would melt away if it can't get any food or light...

Edit: wait and see if anyone else can chime in on this idea though before you give it a shot.

 

[no1bubba]

I tried that with aiptasia and gluing them shut did not work.. I did however clear out a patch of GSP with glue and in 2 weeks my tubbs blue had covered over the glued area.

 

[justthewife]

Is there a way you could actually cut or chip away the rock underneath them? What kind of SPS are you talking about? My Sunset Monti and my war coral took mine out themselves in no time at all.

 

[ilyad]

I tried that with aiptasia and gluing them shut did not work.. I did however clear out a patch of GSP with glue and in 2 weeks my tubbs blue had covered over the glued area.

I've actually had luck gluing aptesia and at one point got rid of a lot of guys in my tank. I had to make sure to put a lot of glue though and quickly before it had a chance to shoot out spores. Since zoas don't spore, I'd imagine it would be easier than aptesia

 

[scoot15638]

Why not try aiptasia X? do a couple of heads every couple of days. Run carbon.

 

[rogersb]

I recently took my wife's good tweazers and yanked lots of over grown zoas. The key is to wait until your wife is out of the house, then get to work I grabbed them by the base and pulled. A lot I reglued to rubble to sell/trade, and some didn't make it. Either way, I cleared the area I wanted for other coral.

 

[snorvich]

The key is to wait until your wife is out of the house, then get to work

This is key to many tank operations. :thumbsup:

 

[DasCamel]

This is key to many tank operations. :thumbsup:

Ninja protocol.

 

[R_Mc]

Hot lemon juice and a syringe works wonderfully - probably still releases palytoxin but if you run carbon and dont have any open cuts you should be fine.

 

[djbonz97]

I pulled my rock out and out. Put on gloves and took a tooth brush and scrub them off and then rinsed them off in 3 other buckets of water. will this method work or will they come back.
thanks

 

[woodnaquanut]

So what did you end up doing, MMM33732? Did you kill them? Did it kill your tank or you?

 

[marcusbacus]

Sorry to revive an old topic, but I am having the same problem. I want to remove this rock (and maybe return it later when it's clean) that has over 50 polyps of green palys (2 different kinds, no other coral on it) and it is impossible to remove them manually all at once mostly with the rock still in the tank. Once I tried to pull some that were growing on the back glass but they didn't get out and were releasing some sort of a green goo which scared me and I gave up. I thought about placing the rock in a bucket with fresh water (or with some kalk added) but I'm afraid that they can release something anyway and contaminate the bucket making it unusable forever. Can the palytoxin be neutralized after some time, like letting the polyps dry and die just letting the rock outside the tank? It's not my favourite option though. I could try removing them all with tweezers or scissors but that green goo scared me and I can't tell if it will be dangerous if it's released with the cutting when and if I return the rock to the tank. I thought also about bleaching the rock with the polyps still there, but I have no idea if this will also release the toxins.

 

[Sk8r]

I had a similar problem with a massive rock with purple mushrooms---and found it quite profitable to trade it to the LFS. It might be the easier solution. You could replace it with conditioned rock.

 

[max6297]

Make a mat of reef epoxy putty and cover the area that you want to kill off.

 

[marcusbacus]

It might be a good idea to trade it in the LFS (I can even try to find a more useable rock, format wise) but the pandemic makes it a bit complicated right now...
It's too big to use putty, and I'm not sure if it can work as this same colony survived a massive crash about 3 years ago (my last one) and all they did was bleach a little... I really wanted to kill most of them and clean the rock as easily as possible without risks.

 

[Sk8r]

There is such serious danger from messing with palytoxins (and every workable method I can think of would expose you to danger if there were a slip-up) tha I would really, really suggest you consign that rock to the garden and get a new rock, if you cannot trade it.

 

[marcusbacus]

The rock in terms of aquascaping isn't that important (I have 5 or 6 rocks like that that I've removed from the tank over time), and I even suspect it might be good to remove it anyway as I think some of my rocks are leaking phosphate back into the water. This uncertainty about if some of the palytoxin will leak at some point or remain somewhere as you said even with all the precautions isn't worth the risk. If only there was a way to know the rock is safe and "neutralized" after the palys are killed...